At what point does a Mac stop being a Mac?

Ctrl-Opt-Del · Ctrl-Opt-Del #1 (**permalink**)

04-11-2012, 07:20 AM

Excuse the almost Zen thread title

An acquaintance of mine (a friend's ex-boyfriend I still talk to when he's out) works for an Apple Authorised Reseller, and while we were talking geeky stuff he mentioned that - much like with PCs - it can work-out cheaper to build a Mac from parts (if you can be bothered) than to buy one ready-built.

Obviously, when he does this for clients his company buys all Apple parts (with the associated premiums levied by the manufacturers); but - given that it is legal to do after-market upgrades with third-party hardware - I was wondering just how much of a self-built Mac would have to be genuine Apple parts for it not to slip into the realms of being a H**kintosh? (Which I do not want to build, I just want to see if I can - as a poor student - save money on a legit Mac...)

I'm guessing generic harddisk(s) & RAM would be ok as they are often upgraded after-market, and obviously an Apple logic board (probably from a Mac Pro) would be needed; what I'm finding to be a grey area is things like DVD drives, graphics cards, the CPU(s) if not supplied with the logic board, etc. Would those parts (for legal and/or technical reasons) need to be specific Apple-branded parts, or could I use generic replacements?

Cheers for any insights

pigoo3 · pigoo3 #2 (**permalink**)

04-11-2012, 08:15 AM

Sorry...but this is really a thinly-veiled hacintosh topic. Thread closed.

- Nick

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
A Switchers guide to recommended free Apps to download to your new Mac	the8thark	Switcher Hangout	67	03-19-2013 10:48 AM
Data Partition: Using a FAT32 Partition to exchange data between Mac and Windows XP	MartinT	Running Windows (or anything else) on your Mac	9	11-12-2009 02:56 AM
Mac Users Get More ISP Choices	schweb	Apple Rumors and Reports	1	03-06-2003 10:57 AM

At what point does a Mac stop being a Mac?

Internet Services

Web Development

Digital Marketing

Consumer Tech

Ctrl-Opt-Del #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Sep 14, 2011 Location: Brighton, East Sussex, England, GB Posts: 254 Mac Specs: Not got one, yet...	04-11-2012, 07:20 AM Excuse the almost Zen thread title An acquaintance of mine (a friend's ex-boyfriend I still talk to when he's out) works for an Apple Authorised Reseller, and while we were talking geeky stuff he mentioned that - much like with PCs - it can work-out cheaper to build a Mac from parts (if you can be bothered) than to buy one ready-built. Obviously, when he does this for clients his company buys all Apple parts (with the associated premiums levied by the manufacturers); but - given that it is legal to do after-market upgrades with third-party hardware - I was wondering just how much of a self-built Mac would have to be genuine Apple parts for it not to slip into the realms of being a H*kintosh? (Which I do not* want to build, I just want to see if I can - as a poor student - save money on a legit Mac...) I'm guessing generic harddisk(s) & RAM would be ok as they are often upgraded after-market, and obviously an Apple logic board (probably from a Mac Pro) would be needed; what I'm finding to be a grey area is things like DVD drives, graphics cards, the CPU(s) if not supplied with the logic board, etc. Would those parts (for legal and/or technical reasons) need to be specific Apple-branded parts, or could I use generic replacements? Cheers for any insights For my purposes as an engineering undergraduate; Windows is respectable (& generally necessary), Linux is admirable (& often useful), OS X is enjoyable (& requires no further justification, although plenty could be given)!

pigoo3 #2 (permalink)
Member Since: May 20, 2008 Location: U.S. Posts: 20,297 Mac Specs: 13" MB 2.4ghz, 2gig ram, OS 10.7.4	04-11-2012, 08:15 AM Sorry...but this is really a thinly-veiled hacintosh topic. Thread closed. - Nick - Computer slow, too many "beachballs", read this: Beachballs - Computer seems slower than it used to? Read this for some speedup tips: Speedup - Almost full hard drive? Some solutions. Out of Space - Apple Battery Info. Battery Last edited by pigoo3; 04-11-2012 at 08:20 AM.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)